(no subject)

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: Jan 12th to Jan 19th (real time), July 11th to July 18th (historical time), 1884
Location: Black Rock, New Mexico, USA
Characters: All transports
Summary: Fearing UE reprisal, the Initiative corrals all transports and shoos them onto a mission back to the Wild West, to vote Gerald "Moony" Jackson in as Mayor of Black Rock. Transports are encouraged to used all their wiles to encourage townsfolk to vote in favor of him, too. Other than that, they're free to roam as they will for 7 whole days! Good luck finding food and shelter, masses. (See the OOC post for more information.)

The Initiative had been terse and rushed as they gathered the transports into the Transporter room, and anyone unwilling to participate will have been forcibly hurried along. The Initiative employees had seemed distracted and worried, and unwilling to stand around and debate. It was time to move. The teleportation had gone off without a hitch, and a roomful of transports have been treated, quite suddenly, to a broad and sunny blue sky, and especially to the heat of mid July in the American West.

Enjoy your weeklong stay in Black Rock, New Mexico! The town is small and sleepy, with just 3 good saloons and one questionable (but considerably cheaper) one. There are a few inns, but these inns aren't quite prepared to room a sudden influx of over 300 travelers, and some people might have to bunk up or get creative with their sleeping arrangements. If you sleep in an inn at all, of course. There's plenty of unexplored wilderness out there to sleep in instead, isn't there? Just make sure to check your boots for scorpions in the morning.

The only instructions are "vote for Gerald "Moony" Jackson for Mayor, and try to convince others to do the same", and you've been given just enough money to cover a very sparse room and board for 7 days, if you don't spend it in anything else.

So, how do you spend your time?

Edit: Overflow log!

Comments

[frorn]

[ She doesn't really give him the chance to reply so all he can do is stare after her and wait.

... And wait.

At some point he doesn't even think she'll be back anymore. They were sent back in time into the Wild West after all, plenty of distraction and excitement around for those who could tolerate the heat. He couldn't fault her for that even though being abandoned did sting.

Except she hadn't abandoned him, because suddenly she's back and thrusting something in his face when he least expects it and he can only glance down, flabbergasted. Was that ... ]

Ice cream? [ He glances from the bowl, back to her before his face lights up with the widest grin. When he moves to take the bowl, little snowflakes briefly burst into life around him in his excitement and once he has it in his hands, he can only stare at it in disbelief. ] That's— That's amazing! Where did you even get this?

[ex_symbioses706]

( his obvious happiness and the snowflakes make her laugh, pulling back a little with a rare measure of pride. )

One of the women in town! It was kind of hard to find, because I don't think it's that common here, but she heard me asking and said she knew someone who made some for the kids sometimes. Um! I hope you like vanilla - she said they make it with fruits sometimes, but they don't have anything right now, and they'd have to be bought specially, so...

[frorn]

Oh man, yeah. I didn't think you could get ice cream here. Thank you! [ She has every right to feel proud, in his mind, and she's treated to a very sincere and grateful smile before he goes ahead and takes a spoonful.

He wouldn't have cared if the flavor was bad, but like the icing on the cake, it actually tastes delicious. He takes a moment to really savor and enjoy it. ]

Hm, this has to be the best ice cream ever. You should try some.

[ex_symbioses706]

You think so?

( whew. even if he's just saying that, as she's kind of afraid, at least he really doesn't seem to dislike it. )

Ah! No, that's okay - I got it for you! I'm okay, so you should enjoy it, okay?

[frorn]

[ Well, rest assured he's not just saying it and when he takes another bite, he's sincerely enjoying it. ]

Oh, c'mon. You went through all that trouble and in this heat it can't be fun to watch someone eat ice cream right in front of you.

[ And with that, he's gonna offer her the spoon. He might not be taking no for an answer. ]

[ex_symbioses706]

( she hesitates, but then accepts the it, taking a spoonful herself. )

Oh! You're right, it is really good!

[frorn]

Isn't it? [ He grins happily, giving the bowl a tap with his finger that causes frost to cover it and keep the ice cream inside from melting too soon. ]

The weather's unfortunate, but I guess they're pretty lucky to have such good ice cream here.

[ex_symbioses706]

( the frost out of nowhere thing is never ever going to get old, it's so cool. )

I guess it'd be because of the weather that they try even harder with making good ice cream, maybe!

( and after another bite, she hands the spoon back. )

[frorn]

Makes sense. They certainly have something to make up for, alright.

[ He snorts. It's a shame she didn't bring two spoons, so to keep it fair, he takes two bites and then hands it to her again. That way they could somewhat split it evenly. ]

But hey, now you can say you've eaten ice cream from the past! The very same ice cream cowboys used to eat.

[ex_symbioses706]

That's true!

( it's in between bites that she says this, holding up the spoon as she speaks to punctuate her answer. )

I didn't think of it like that! Ahh, my brother would never believe me if I tried to tell him, though! He'd say something like, ( and then she FROWNS in some imitation of a gruff man older than her ) "Are you sure you weren't dreaming again, Ranka? Trying to picture little you around real cowboys is impossible!"

( and then she takes a grumpy second bite of the ice cream, passing it back with a bit of a huff. )

[frorn]

[ It's futile trying to suppress his laugh, so Jack simply doesn't. He obviously doesn't know who she's imitating, but it's an interesting imitation nonetheless! He's still chuckling when she passes the spoon back to him. ]

Sounds like your brother could use a little more fun and imagination in his life.

[ex_symbioses706]

( she can't help get huffy when she talks about him, though there's some real fondness too )

I think so too! I know he's my older brother and takes care of me, but if he can do things like name everything after songs from Fire Bomber, even at work, then he shouldn't be able to make fun of me!

[frorn]

[ He has no idea what 'Fire Bomber' is, but just watching her talk about her older brother is amusing. Possibly doubly so because he was one. ]

Ah, but that's what big brothers are for, aren't they? To make fun of their little siblings.

1/2

[ex_symbioses706]

( she just haves a huge, super-dramatic sigh!!!! as she flops on the ground for a moment. )

He does plenty of that!

[ex_symbioses706]

( and from down there, she reflects: )

I'm sure he'd be really worried if he knew about this place.

[frorn]

[ It kind of reminds him of the exasperation his sister had occasionally shown about his antics and of course, the memory is tainted with sadness, but more than that there's fondness too.

What Ranka says next is sobering though. If the other Guardians knew about this place, or rather this future, then worry might be putting it lightly. ]

I think a lot of people would be. [ He takes two bites contemplatively before holding the spoon above her face. ]

They're throwing us into a war after all.

[ex_symbioses706]

That's true.

( she starts to sit up and then realizes that would bring her face in a direct collision course with the spoon, and instead reaches up to take it and then sit up properly, crossing her legs.

her brother had been the main person to oppose her involvement in the war back in frontier, but she realizes now that had been a very different scenario, with brera and kanaria there to protect her and the government itself keeping her as a trump card against the vajra.

she takes a bite of the ice cream, considering this. with what sheryl had told her, she has a much more complete picture of what was really happening and what would result from it, giving her simultaneous feelings of homesickness and dread. )

But this mission isn't so bad - I mean, the heat is pretty bad! - but it's kind of fun...and not that dangerous.

[frorn]

[ It was far from fun for Jack, really. He was more or less incapacitated until nightfall and that, frankly, was a huge pain in the ass. But he doesn't comment on it, because even though it's not fun for him, it could still be fun for others.

And what with it being a war, he realizes it could be far worse. ]

Yeah, at least there's no fighting. You've been here a while, right? How were the other missions?

[ex_symbioses706]

There was only one other mandatory one while I was here, and that was months ago. The rest were just if you want to, I think, so I didn't go on those.

( she takes a fortifying bite of ice cream and passes the spoon back before going on, looking troubled. )

But the other one was a really big battle, for days.

[frorn]

[ Jack's expression turns equally troubled at hearing that. If it had been mandatory like this one, then even the kids they'd brought would have been there too. His grip on the spoon tightens, unconsciously causing it to frost over. ]

I'm sorry, that must have been hard. [ He hesitates for a beat. ] How did it go?

[ex_symbioses706]

( she'd stayed away from the battle lines that time, safely in the camp and singing or doing what she could to help. even after, with the unintended consequences, she hadn't strayed outside of the safe zones. but that didn't mean there was never any fear or threats. )

We - but saying 'we' is wrong, right? - the people who were fighting, they were able to do what the Initiative wanted us to do. ( get rid of the army there already, poison the earth... ) But there was a mistake, so when we got back, the city was really different - there were monsters everywhere, that I think they said the United Earth had sent. But! ( and she puts more emphasis on this one optimistic part ) They were able to fix whatever went wrong, and get rid of everything. Then everything was back to normal.

[frorn]

[ It's a good thing she emphasizes the optimistic part, although that didn't make the skepticism that had taken root as Ranka told him the story disappear. Did this Initiative really know what they were doing? He takes a good spoonful of ice cream to stop himself from blurting out anything unkind, but ... ]

Can they really afford mistakes like that? This whole messing with time thing doesn't sound like the best idea to start with and to bring in people, kids, like they do ... [ The next bite is an angry one before he passes the cold spoon over. ]

[ex_symbioses706]

( she fumbles the spoon after reaching to take it, since it was colder than expected. but she doesn't drop it at least, and taps it against the lip of the bowl once or twice as she considers an answer. )

I don't know. ( she's never been good at this; conflicts and motivations and less than pure reasonings ) They've been saying they're very desperate. And when the people you're fighting are very powerful...

( if something like this had been an option on frontier, would someone have taken it? not grace or her allies surely, but with all of the attacks and deaths, getting so desperate as to try to take their planet by force, wouldn't someone...? but that kind of thought leaves a bitter aftertaste, so she takes both bites of ice cream before going on. )

...then doing weird things like that seem like a better idea.

( like singing for the destruction of the vajra, when she was just being used all along in some greater schemes, when they weren't even the true enemy at all. )

[frorn]

I get that they're desperate, but ... [ That doesn't make it right. Not that Jack would know what to do in that situation, so maybe he's not one to talk.

The way Ranka said it also made it sound like she was talking from experience and Jack frowns in concern, but doesn't pursue it. That hardly seemed like something someone would want to talk about. Perhaps it was time to just drop the subject. The weather was enough to be grumpy and miserable about and just sitting here feeling helpless and angry at the Initiative wasn't going to help anything.

So, he takes a deep breath and lets it go. It only takes a very brief internal struggle before he's reaching out and setting his cool hand down on Ranka's head. ]

Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. We just gotta make the best of it, right?

[ex_symbioses706]

( the touch is surprising enough that she looks up in askance as she listens; but at his question, she nods with some measure of determination )

Right!

( if this is the right thing to do or not - now's not the time to consider it, right? and after a beat, she starts and hands the spoon back. )

I almost forgot, sorry!